X-ray diffractometry (XRD) using X-ray diffraction is frequently used for the purpose of phase analysis or the like of various materials such as liquid, metal, inorganic substances, polymers, catalysts, plastic, prepared medicines, thin film coating, ceramics and semiconductors.
The X-ray diffractometry becomes one of essential methods for raw material investigation, characterization, quality management in industries and research agencies, and is actually applied to broad fields such as investigation of process automation or large amount of polymorph as well as investigation of quantitative analysis, qualitative analysis, crystallography, structure and relaxed condition, tissue and residual stress, controlled sample environments, micro diffraction, nano substances or the like.
In particular, the X-ray diffractometry represents analysis of a crystal structure among molecules, and a device for X-ray diffractometry demands high accuracy, high precision and high reliability.
In addition, the X-ray diffractometry is classified into a reflection mode and a transmission mode, and when observing a phase change of a sample according to a temperature change, the reflection mode X-ray diffractometry takes 20 to 30 minutes for analyzing diffraction of the sample at a specific temperature and thus is not suitable for measuring a phase change of a sample according to a temperature change in real time.
In other words, the reflection-type X-ray diffractometry takes 20 to 30 minutes for performing diffractometry to a sample at a specific temperature, and thus when it is intended to observe a phase change of a sample, generated for several minutes (for example, 1 to 5 minutes), or it is intended to observe a sample accompanied with various phase changes during several minutes, there is a limit in observing detailed phase changes of the corresponding sample. This limit of the reflection-type X-ray diffractometry may be solved by means of the transmission-type X-ray diffractometry which takes just several minutes for measuring data of each sample.
In addition, in existing transmission mode X-ray diffractometry, when measuring a phase change of a sample according to a temperature change, the phase change of the sample may not be stably measured at a high temperature range of 400 to 500° C. Moreover, since a temperature deviation at the high temperature range is up to ±40° C., a thermal equilibrium state may not be easily maintained, and thus it is not easy to obtain reliable data.
Thus, when observing a phase change of a sample according to a temperature change, it is demanded to develop a device capable of heating a sample to a high temperature and easily maintaining a thermal equilibrium state of the sample at the high temperature, when observing a phase change of the sample according to a temperature change.